Sumatra PDF
Encyclopedia
Sumatra PDF, also known simply as Sumatra, is a free
, open source, lightweight PDF
, DjVu
, XPS
, CBZ and CBR reader for Microsoft Windows
, written by Krzysztof Kowalczyk.
The first version of Sumatra, designated version 0.1, was based on Xpdf
0.2 and was released on 1 June 2006. Version 1.0 was released on 17 November 2009 after more than three years of cumulative development.
library.
Sumatra was designed for portable use, as it consists of one single file with no external dependencies, making it usable from an external USB drive. This classifies it as a portable application
. As is characteristic of many portable applications, Sumatra takes up little disk space. It has a 4.4 MB setup file, compared to Adobe Reader's 40.5 MB, for Windows 7. Installed size is 8.4 MB, whereas Adobe Reader requires 335 MB of available disk space.
Sumatra does not lock
the PDF file. Without closing the PDF file, a user can recompile the text document and generate a new PDF file and then press the R key to refresh the PDF document.
Sumatra 0.5 and earlier versions can print PDFs that have disallowed printing. This feature has been removed from the newer versions. Up to Sumatra 1.1, printing was achieved by transforming each PDF page into a bitmap image. This resulted in very large spool files and potentially slow printing.
Since Sumatra 0.9.1 hyperlinks embedded in PDF documents are also supported.
Sumatra is multilingual
, with 69 community-contributed translations.
Sumatra supports SyncTeX, a bidirectional method for synchronizing TeX
source and PDF output produced by pdfTeX
or XeTeX
. Since version 0.9.4, Sumatra supports the JPEG 2000
format.
was the current version of Windows, Sumatra has some incompatibility issues with earlier versions of Windows. Support for Windows 95
, 98
and Me
has since been dropped completely.
The source code can be downloaded either via its Subversion development repository or as a Tarball
.
First Sumatra was based on Xpdf (v<0.2), then Poppler
as backend but it changed to MuPDF because of better support for the Windows platform. (Poppler decided to focus on integration with Unix platforms.) After a phase with support for both (v≤0.4) Poppler was removed in version 0.9 that was released on 10 August 2008. The first unofficial translations were released in 2007 by Lars Wohlfahrt before Sumatra PDF got official multi-language support.
or coffee, stating that there is no particular reasoning behind the name.
The graphics design of Sumatra is a tribute to the cover of the Watchmen
graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
s and its open source
development. The Free Software Foundation Europe
recommends Sumatra PDF.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, open source, lightweight PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
, DjVu
DjVu
DjVu is a computer file format designed primarily to store scanned documents, especially those containing a combination of text, line drawings, and photographs. It uses technologies such as image layer separation of text and background/images, progressive loading, arithmetic coding, and lossy...
, XPS
XML Paper Specification
Open XML Paper Specification , is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format originally developed by Microsoft as XML Paper Specification that was later standardized by Ecma International as international standard ECMA-388...
, CBZ and CBR reader for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, written by Krzysztof Kowalczyk.
The first version of Sumatra, designated version 0.1, was based on Xpdf
Xpdf
Xpdf is an open-source PDF viewer for the X Window System and Motif.Xpdf runs on practically any Unix-like operating system. Xpdf can decode LZW and read encrypted PDFs. The official version obeys the DRM restrictions of PDF files, which may prevent copying, printing, or converting some PDF files...
0.2 and was released on 1 June 2006. Version 1.0 was released on 17 November 2009 after more than three years of cumulative development.
Features
Sumatra has a minimalistic design, with its simplicity attained at the expense of extensive features. For rendering PDF it uses the MuPDFMuPDF
MuPDF is an open source software library written in C that implements a PDF and XPS parsing and rendering engine. It is used primarily to render pages into bitmaps, but also provides support for other operations such as searching and listing the table of contents and hyperlinks.The focus of MuPDF...
library.
Sumatra was designed for portable use, as it consists of one single file with no external dependencies, making it usable from an external USB drive. This classifies it as a portable application
Portable application
A portable application , sometimes also called standalone, is a computer software program designed to run independently from an operating system...
. As is characteristic of many portable applications, Sumatra takes up little disk space. It has a 4.4 MB setup file, compared to Adobe Reader's 40.5 MB, for Windows 7. Installed size is 8.4 MB, whereas Adobe Reader requires 335 MB of available disk space.
Sumatra does not lock
File locking
File locking is a mechanism that restricts access to a computer file by allowing only one user or process access at any specific time. Systems implement locking to prevent the classic interceding update scenario ....
the PDF file. Without closing the PDF file, a user can recompile the text document and generate a new PDF file and then press the R key to refresh the PDF document.
Sumatra 0.5 and earlier versions can print PDFs that have disallowed printing. This feature has been removed from the newer versions. Up to Sumatra 1.1, printing was achieved by transforming each PDF page into a bitmap image. This resulted in very large spool files and potentially slow printing.
Since Sumatra 0.9.1 hyperlinks embedded in PDF documents are also supported.
Sumatra is multilingual
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
, with 69 community-contributed translations.
Sumatra supports SyncTeX, a bidirectional method for synchronizing TeX
TeX
TeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth and released in 1978. Within the typesetting system, its name is formatted as ....
source and PDF output produced by pdfTeX
PdfTeX
The computer program pdfTeX is an extension of Knuth's typesetting program TeX, and was originally written and developed into a publicly usable product by Hàn Thế Thành as a part of the work for his PhD thesis at the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno...
or XeTeX
XeTeX
XeTeX is a TeX typesetting engine using Unicode and supporting modern font technologies such as OpenType or Apple Advanced Typography...
. Since version 0.9.4, Sumatra supports the JPEG 2000
JPEG 2000
JPEG 2000 is an image compression standard and coding system. It was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee in 2000 with the intention of superseding their original discrete cosine transform-based JPEG standard with a newly designed, wavelet-based method...
format.
Development
As it was initially designed when Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
was the current version of Windows, Sumatra has some incompatibility issues with earlier versions of Windows. Support for Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
and Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....
has since been dropped completely.
The source code can be downloaded either via its Subversion development repository or as a Tarball
Tarball
Tarball can refer to:* Tar , a computer file format that can combine multiple files into a single "tarball" file* Tarball , a blob of semi-solid oil found on or near the ocean...
.
History
The first version of Sumatra was designated 0.1 and was released on 1 June 2006.First Sumatra was based on Xpdf (v<0.2), then Poppler
Poppler (software)
In computing, Poppler is a free software library used to render PDF documents. It is used by the PDF viewers of the open source GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and its development is supported by freedesktop.org....
as backend but it changed to MuPDF because of better support for the Windows platform. (Poppler decided to focus on integration with Unix platforms.) After a phase with support for both (v≤0.4) Poppler was removed in version 0.9 that was released on 10 August 2008. The first unofficial translations were released in 2007 by Lars Wohlfahrt before Sumatra PDF got official multi-language support.
Name and artwork
The author has indicated that the choice of the name “Sumatra” is not a tribute to the Sumatra islandSumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
or coffee, stating that there is no particular reasoning behind the name.
The graphics design of Sumatra is a tribute to the cover of the Watchmen
Watchmen
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colourist John Higgins. The series was published by DC Comics during 1986 and 1987, and has been subsequently reprinted in collected form...
graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Critical reception
Sumatra has attracted acclaim for its speed and simplicity, its keyboard shortcutKeyboard shortcut
In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a finite set of one or more keys that invoke a software or operating system operation when triggered by the user. A meaning of term "keyboard shortcut" can vary depending on software manufacturer...
s and its open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
development. The Free Software Foundation Europe
Free Software Foundation Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe was founded in 2001 as an official European sister organization of the U.S.-based Free Software Foundation to take care of all aspects of free software in Europe. FSF and FSFE are financially and legally separate entities.FSFE believes that access to and...
recommends Sumatra PDF.
External links
- sumatrapdf at Google CodeGoogle CodeGoogle Code is Google's site for developer tools, APIs and technical resources. The site contains documentation on using Google developer tools and APIs—including discussion groups and blogs for developers using Google's developer products....